An artist impression of the new €1m 3G multi-sport pitch
GAA Club will fight ‘tooth and nail’ for playing pitch
THE chairman of Ballyboden St Enda’s GAA Club said he doesn’t know how the club will “continue to operate our juvenile section the way we do today” if plans for a new enclosed pitch go ahead.
The club currently uses a pitch in Knocklyon Park as an adult pitch that also functions as three pitches for its juvenile section.
However, the pitch has recently been earmarked for a new enclosed pitch development, which will be pay-to-play and will have a knock-on effect on the juvenile teams from St Enda’s that use it.
The club has spent €542k developing the site at Knocklyon Park and the dressing rooms on the land, leased to them under a 99-year lease.
The club will continue to use a second adult pitch in the park if the planned new pitch development goes ahead.
This remaining pitch, according to St Enda’s chairman Donagh O’Farrell, is not suitable for subdivision into juvenile pitches, and the loss of the other pitch will be detrimental to the club.
“There’s an incredible need for pitches across the county, and we understand that,” Mr O’Farrell told The Echo.
“But what the council is doing is replacing a pitch, not increasing. They’re taking one pitch and putting another one on it.
“The pitch they’re proposing is not as suitable [for juvenile GAA teams] as the one they’re taking away.”
The reason it’s unsuitable is because it will be an all-weather pitch with synthetic grass which won’t be suitable for juvenile use like the pitch it’s replacing.
“It’s an adult pitch, but it’s going to be an artificial pitch,” explained Mr O’Farrell.
“The real loss for us is the three juvenile pitches – it’s one long adult pitch with dual use as three juvenile pitches – and we’ll fight tooth and nail to keep it.
“During the summer, that pitch is used seven days a week. We don’t know how we’re going to manage without it. We’re already bursting at the seams.
“We won’t be able to continue to operate our juvenile section the way we do today.”
The club will be holding a public meeting about the proposed pitch on Tuesday, May 30, at 9pm in the Ballyboden St Enda’s clubhouse.
The meeting will be held just ahead of the final date for submissions on the Part 8 public consultation aspect of the proposal, which concludes on June 9.
While the loss of the pitch will impact members of St Enda’s, Mr O’Farrell stressed that it would also affect young players from clubs all around the county who have competed against the club on the pitch.
Expressing his frustration at South Dublin County Council’s plans for the new pitch, Mr O’Farrell said: “They’re taking away one adult pitch/three juvenile pitches.
“There’s not an extra inch of playing space being created, and they’re spending a lot of tax-payers’ money on it.”
The proposed new pitch is part of the council’s wider Sports Pitch Strategy, which includes the provision of new grass and artificial grass pitches (AGP) around the county.
In a document published in 2020, outlining the Sports Pitch Strategy, the council stated: “AGPs have the ability to support far more matches and training sessions compared to regular grass pitches and can be strategically located in new development areas or high population areas.
“AGPs should be viewed as a community asset as they can support many segments of the population and offer a multi-sport approach through different sports.
“Each AGP has a travel time of 20 minutes where the optimum number of the population will travel to use the site.
“When new developments are being built AGPs should be associated with these areas as typically this is where the younger population will increase.”
